Jr. high principal to head middle school

Barry Grace, Kalispell Junior High principal for the past half-dozen years, was appointed Tuesday night to be the new principal when the school opens as a middle school in fall 2007.

Grace will be at the helm of an administrative team, still to be appointed, leading what could be more than 900 students at the middle school.

He said he looks forward to the challenge. "You bet, I'm excited to get this started," he said.

Grace has been working with the Middle School Steering Committee in more than 50 meetings over the past year to research middle school settings across the nation, then craft a proposal for Kalispell.

The middle school will include students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades, using the team-teaching concept and a redesigned curriculum to move students from elementary to high school and expose them to a wide range of career and education options.

Members of the steering committee have been meeting the past two weeks with parent groups, staff and others to explain their proposal and get feedback.

This year's fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders will be the first group of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders to make up the new student body at the middle school.

Currently, the junior high includes eighth and ninth grades. After the transition, ninth-graders will become part of Flathead and Glacier high schools.

"We want to create the philosophy of a middle school," Grace said. "It's a new thing for all of us at this level. I can't wait."

Grace has been an educator since 1971, when he started teaching junior high English in Columbia Falls. He moved up to the high school English department, where he taught all four grades, and eventually became Columbia Falls High activities director and assistant principal.

In fall 1995, he started as Kalispell Junior High assistant principal. In 2000 he was promoted to principal.

His bachelor's degree was awarded by Western Montana College in Dillon, and his master's in education administration came from the University of Montana.

This year, Grace leads a staff of about 110, including about 75 certified teachers.

In other personnel moves, the school board approved Karen Glasser Breeding as District 5's first-ever director of human resources.

Breeding now is the assistant director of human resources at Idaho State University and, for three years before taking that position, was human resources generalist for Northern Arizona University. She has other experience as a human resources specialist at Northern Arizona.

She received her bachelor's degree in international studies from the University of Oregon and her master of public administration degree from Northern Arizona University. She also holds a Senior Professional in Human Resources certification.

In District 5, Breeding will be in charge of hiring and providing oversight to evaluate all district workers, handling collective bargaining, running the district safety program, overseeing staff development, and tracking and recording other matters such as teacher certification and policy updates.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com